A man with long red hair stood surrounded by four other men and countless wolf corpses. One of the men dragged a wolf behind him and tossed it onto the pile.
"Hey, how long do we have to keep doing this? It was fun at first, but now I'm just bored," he said with an annoyed groan.
Another man grabbed him by the shirt. "Did the Lord tell you to speak? No, he didn't. So shut the hell up."
He responded with a smirk. "Is the certified lap dog getting fussy again? Maybe we need to put the collar back on."
Seeing his smug face, the man grew angry again. "Who the hell are you calling a certified dog?"
The man with red hair raised his hand, cutting them off. "Stop your bickering. It's about to start."
Just then, five men and women came running toward them, wolves close behind. The red-haired man snapped his fingers. The man with the smug face jumped past him, cutting down the wolves in an instant.
The terrified men and women collapsed at the red-haired man's feet, gasping for breath. His face shifted from a malicious sneer to a kind-hearted smile.
"There's no need to fear. Come with me—I'll keep you safe."
The men and women began to weep and continued to praise and thank him as he walked away, hiding his sinister grin.
In the distance, something stirred in the icy wind. The red-haired man took a deep breath, feeling as if someone's eyes were on him.
"That's a new feeling…" he smiled. "Something fun is coming."
King was still in his trance, staring into the wind. I snapped my fingers, breaking him out of it.
"Hey, hey! Aren't you cold?" I said, shivering.
King didn't respond, so August grabbed King's sword and started skinning one of the dead wolves, figuring how much pelt he could salvage. He then ran to the river and dunked it. After a few hours, he'd managed to make two coats. He slipped one on and tossed the other to King.
"There you go."
King put his on. "Thank you."
August pointed out the timer had disappeared. "It must've been counting down for that monster."
King thought to himself. "Yeah, you must be right."
Suddenly, King heard a gunshot and took off running toward it. August followed.
"Hey, man, where are you going?"
King found the source of the noise and tackled someone to the ground. Their goggles and scarf fell off, revealing their face. What he didn't expect was to see a beautiful woman with piercing red eyes and stunning hazel skin.
She kicked him off, pointed her gun at him, and took a shot, barely missing.
"What the hell? You could've killed me!"
She holstered her gun, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and blew out the smoke.
"So you aren't him. I should've known."
She stood and started to walk away, a little disappointed.
King yelled after her, grabbing her attention. "Hey! You should join us."
She looked back, confused. "Huh?"
He smiled in response. "You've already helped us before, so why not join us?"
She took another drag of her cigarette and blew out the smoke. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna hang around just to play babysitter."
His smile grew even bigger. "It's nothing like that. I just want to be friends." He extended his hand.
Seeing this, a small smile crossed her face as she imagined someone else doing the exact same thing.
"Fine."
As they started walking back, King called out, "Wait, you didn't give me your name."
She smiled again. "It's Val."
He grinned. "Okay, it's nice to meet you, Val."
August slung his arm over King's shoulder. "Not bad, King, not bad at all." He gave him a smile and a thumbs up.
"Wait, it's not like that!" King protested.
August shot him a sly grin. "Sure, buddy."
"I promise!"
Val stood behind them, shaking her head. "They're idiots… What did I get myself into?"